The plastic surgery of the conjunctiva is one of the urgent problems the present-day ophthalmological practice is faced with. It is not infrequently that the conjunctiva gets affected by burns, the incidence of which amounts to 20.3 percent of the total cases of the eye injuries (cf. N. A. Puchkovskaya et al., "Pathogenesis and treatment of burns of the eye and of their sequels", Moscow, 1973, pp. 129 to 130/in Russian/). Furthermore the conjunctiva is the location of various tumours (cf. Aftab M., Pergival S.P.B. "Basal Cell Carcinoma of the Conjunctiva", Brit. J. Ophthal., 1973, 57, 11, pp. 836-837), may be affected by pemphigus, lupus, Duhring's disease, and Stevens-Johnson disease (cf. N. A. Puchkovskaya, "Keratoplasty in complicated cases of leukoma", Kiev, 1960, pp. 21, 127). There occurs widely such a disease as pterygium, its incidence in the steppe areas of the Soviet Union amounting to 21 percent of the polulation (cf. B. I. Ismailov, "Some data on the incidence of pterygium in the inhabitants of the Kara-Kalpak ASSR regions", Oftalmologichesky zhurnal (Ophthalmological Journal), 1978, No. 6, pp. 471-472). A vast multitude of trachoma patients occur in the world up till now (cf. Chronicle of World Health Organization, 1979, No. 11).
A majority of patients suffering from the abovesaid diseases want plastic surgery on the conjunctiva. At present most widely applicable for the purposes of conjunctiviplasty are autografts of the mucosa of the lip (cf. N. A. Puchkovskaya et al., "Pathogenesis and treatment of burns of the eye and of their sequels", Moscow, 1973, pp. 129 to 130). However, taking a graft of the mucosa of the lip is a very traumatic manipulation sometimes fraught with eversion of the lip, whereas cosmetic effect of the operation proves to be unsatisfactory as the transplanted mucosa of the lip stands out by its bright-red colour (cf. O. D. Morozova, "Kerato- and conjunctiviplasty in surgical treatment of symblepharon and recurrent pterygium". Vestnik oftalmologii (Ophthalmological herald), 1971, No. 2, pp. 24 to 26).
Known heretofore in the art is the use of homografts of the eyeball conjunctiva (cf. Byerly Holt L. Eye Tissue Transplantation in Children. Eye, Ear, Nose, Throat Monthly, 1970, 49, L., pp. 172 to 174; Jarplid B., Schantz B. Rejection of Skin and Conjunctival Allograft in the Dog after Prolonged Graft Survival. Acta Chir. Scand., 1973, 139, 6, pp. 517 to 521); however, good results of such operations are far from being obtained at all times. In addition, some difficulties are encountered in procurement of eyes from cadavers (cf. Paton R. T., Keratoplasty. New-York, 1955). The same disadvantages are inherent in conjunctiviplasty using the cornea procured from cadavers (cf. V. P. Filatov, "Surgery for pterygium". In his textbook "Manual for Eye Diseases", 1960, v.5, pp. 30-34/in Russian/). There were suggested also homografts of the mucosa of the lip (cf. G. V. Legeza, "Homotransplantation of the mucosa in surgical treatment of sequels of eye burns", an abstract of the thesis for a doctorate, Odessa, 1970), and those of the esophageal mucosa (cf. N. A. Ushakov, P. T. Chesnokov, "Problems of reconstructive ophthalmoplasty", Leningrad, 1972, v.191 pp. 73-74/Russian/) proved to yield a good effect only for reparation of small defects of the conjunctiva.
An experimental use of a homovenous wall is known to have been made for conjunctiviplasty (cf. Francais I., Udal-On M. La paroi veineuse pour korrogreffe de la conjonctive. Ann. Oculist., Paris, 1972, 205, 4, pp. 447 to 457).
Some reports are now available about the application of vaginal mucosa as homografts for conjunctiviplasty (cf. A. A. Kolen, "On use of vaginal mucosa for plastic reconstruction of the conjunctival sac". A collection of papers by Prof. N. I. Gorizontov, Novosibirsk, 1935), of placenta (cf. S. A. Barkhash, "Placenta as a material for plastic surgery". Vestnik oftalmologii, 1040, No. 6, p. 758), or of egg's membrane (cf. B. I. Tikhvinsky, "On use of egg's membrane for plastic surgery on the eyeball". Vestnik oftalmologii, 1938, v.13, p.397).
However, every kind of homografts suggested heretofore fails to satisfy ophthalmic surgeons, as some of them are clinically low efficient, while some other are hardly procurably in great amounts (such as conjunctiva, mucosa of the vagina or lip) or are difficult to fix with sutures (placenta).